Foreign ministry dismisses Delhi minister's charges

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5 Dariya News

New Delhi (IANS) , 06 Feb 2014

Even as Delhi Police have recorded the statements of three Ugandan women who filed a police complaint alleging they had been tricked into a sex and drugs racket by Indian placement agencies, the external affairs ministry has dismissed Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti's claim that the Indian and Ugandan missions were "hand-in-glove" in the racket.The three Ugandan women on Tuesday filed a police complaint following which the Delhi Commission for Women wrote to Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi demanding a probe into the allegations.Dismissing the minister's claim, external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said Thursday: "Any assertion of such nature coming from any quarter is without any basis, without an iota of evidence and does not deserve a rejoinder."

Bharti, speaking to media, had made a serious allegation that the sex and drug racket was flourishing because the "Ugandan high commission in Delhi and the Indian high commission in Uganda were hand-in-glove on this."The external affairs ministry said on Tuesday it had suggested to the Ugandan High Commission to provide consular services to the three Ugandan women.The statements of the three women have been recorded by a magistrate and they are now in a protection house in West Delhi.Delhi Police registered a case on the directions of the court. On Wednesday, the police recorded their statements and are moving forward with the probe into the allegations to find out who brought the women to India.

The three women had approached the Delhi government directly to complain. The Delhi government then directed them to the area magistrate on Monday to file a police complaint.They stay in Khirki Extension, in Malviya Nagar area, where Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti along with some AAP members carried out a midnight raid last month following allegations of a "drugs and prostitution racket" being run there.Bharti and his group had rounded up some African women and made them undergo medical tests. The incident provoked an uproar, following which the Indian government summoned worried African envoys to condemn the incident and assure them that it was an aberration.The AAP, especially Bharti, has attracted much flak for the move.